Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore – författare

What does it mean to pursue a calling? According to Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, it may mean ambiguity, uncertainty, and even suffering--but that's what makes it worthwhile. The common understanding of calling is often simplistic. You simply need to follow your bliss, or God's will. Miller-McLemore dives into the complex reality of what it means to pursue a calling, challenging the deceptive and destructive idea that a well-lived life is simple, with one perfect career, partner, or summons from God. Instead, she argues, to truly grapple with calling, we must consider how it evolves amid the constraints of life. Callings are often accompanied by loss, regret, failure, impediments, frustration, overload, and conflict, challenges that are an important part of a balanced life.Grounding her argument in stories from memoirs and biographies, fiction, and the people she has encountered in her thirty years of teaching and research, Miller-McLemore guides the reader through six dilemmas one may face throughout life, from missed or conflicted callings to unexpected or relinquished passions. Each chapter explores the pain and hardships around these complicated experiences and the enhanced insight and vitality that arises from enduring them. Intertwining faith, philosophy, and pragmatism, Miller-McLemore engages unflinchingly with the ways we find purpose in our lives, and how we make meaning of the search for a calling, no matter how rough the road it leads us down.

What is the status of the American family? How is it changing? Are these changes making anything better? What is the future of the family? Does religion offer a positive answer? Not since Habits of the Heart has one book confronted these important issues with such personal and societal impact. This groundbreaking study argues for the creation of a new family ethic that must be central to the agendas of both contemporary society and the church.The Family, Culture, and Religion series offers informed and responsible analyses of the state of the American family from a religious perspective and provides practical assistance for the family's revitalization.

Through a series of essays contributed by leading experts in the field, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology presents an introduction to practical theology as a major area of Christian study and practice, including an overview of its key developments, themes, methods, and future directions. The first comprehensive reference work to provide a survey, description and analysis of practical theology as an area of studyA range of leading scholars in the field provide original contributions on the major areas, issues, and figures in practical theologyReviews an extensive range of methods for studying theology in practice, along with sub-disciplines in theological education such as pastoral care and preachingCovers developments in the discipline in a range of global contexts and distinct Christian traditionsShows how practical theology is relevant to everyday life

Contains a general introduction to the discipline, featuring classic and pioneering essays that address the history, methods, issues, and exemplary illustrations of research, teaching, and practice Presenting a diverse collection of landmark essays, The Wiley-Blackwell Reader in Practical Theology explores the turn-of-the-century renaissance of practical theology as an academic discipline and shows how the discipline has advanced a steady epistemological insurgency in theology throughout the twentieth- and twenty-first century. The text provides scholars, students, and ministerial professionals with easy access to original seminal sources that represent major milestones, growing edges, and useful classificatory rubrics. A handy, one-volume primer to practical theology, the book: Offers an excellent bird’s-eye-view of the discipline’s essential foundational contributionsProvides significant introductory overview material helpful in guiding both new and experienced readers to practical theologyIncludes brief overview introductions before each essay to situate the reading and highlight key contributions and occasional limitationsFeatures essay selections that consider race, gender, sexuality, age, and other differences as a critical subthemeThe Wiley-Blackwell Reader in Practical Theology is an indispensable resource for students, faculty, and professionals in practical theology and colleagues in related cognate disciplines in theological education and religious studies.

Through a series of essays contributed by leading experts in the field, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology presents an introduction to practical theology as a major area of Christian study and practice, including an overview of its key developments, themes, methods, and future directions. The first comprehensive reference work to provide a survey, description and analysis of practical theology as an area of studyA range of leading scholars in the field provide original contributions on the major areas, issues, and figures in practical theologyReviews an extensive range of methods for studying theology in practice, along with sub-disciplines in theological education such as pastoral care and preachingCovers developments in the discipline in a range of global contexts and distinct Christian traditionsShows how practical theology is relevant to everyday life